It has officially been three months since A Plan to Save the World was released to the world, and I've had some time to reflect on the story itself... Or more so, how it came to be.
Lots of authors look back on old writing habits while facepalming, and I could definitely relate – but rather than keeping it to myself and maybe even learning from my bad decisions, I thought I might as well share them with you.
STUPID THING #1
I literally based a character off of Charlie Swan from Twilight (movie version of course), and I called him Charlie as well. It's the type of decision that lead to Charlie being the fan favourite. After all, why like Rome or Willa when you have the tried and true OG right in front of you?
STUPID THING #2
I changed an integral part to the plot VERY last minute, one that repeated several times throughout the entire book, just because I liked a one-off cover I saw online and had to make it mine. That was a stupid decision that took ages to fix, but in saying that, no one is honest about how hard it is to find the perfect front cover?!
STUPID THING #3
I named THREE different characters Richard, completely unintentionally. In fact, I didn't even notice until my brother pointed it out in the third round of edits. That was the day before sending the story off to the printers! Could you imagine if that leaked out? I'd probably play it off like a game though; "spot the Richards".
STUPID THING #4
I created a Spotify playlist for my novel (as all novelists should do) to ensure the vibe and emotion stayed consistent. The stupid part? I never listened to it again, and the soundtrack now sounds entirely different to my story. It almost makes me wonder if I did myself a disservice with this, or if the evolution of my story turned out for the better this way. I guess we'll never know, heh.
STUPID THING #5
I wrote romance scenes that were so cringe-worthy I almost removed the entire romance plot from the story. For those who haven't read it yet, don't worry, I watered it down a lot. But, the fact that my own writing almost scared me off was VERY eye-opening. Again, the stupid part? I'm continuing to write romance books as a main genre of choice, and I've learnt absolutely nothing from my struggles.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my internal struggles at least just a bit. As I'm already up to the editing stage of my next manuscript, I'm sure there will be more stupid things to share (sooner, rather than later).
Until next time,
Elaelah xx